NTSB Accident Report "Bump in the Night"

[Otto]

(emphasis added)
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NTSB Identification: ATL03FA008
Nonscheduled 14 CFR Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Accident occurred Wednesday, October 23, 2002 in Spanish Fort, AL
Aircraft: Cessna 208B, registration: N76U
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On October 23, 2002, at 1945, central daylight time, a Cessna 208B, N76U, call sign Night Ship 282, registered to Atlantic Aero, Inc., and operated by Mid Atlantic Freight, Inc. collided in-flight with an unknown object at 3,000 feet MSL and descended uncontrolled into swampy water in the Big Bateau Bay in Spanish Fort, Alabama, shortly after takeoff from the Mobile Downtown Airport, in Mobile, Alabama. The cargo flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 135, and instrument flight rules. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and an IFR flight plan was filed. The commercial pilot sustained fatal injuries and the airplane was destroyed. The flight originated from the Mobile Downtown Airport, in Mobile, Alabama on October 23,
2002 at 1940.


Full Report: http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20021029X05400&ntsbno=ATL03FA008&akey=1

[muckmaw]

Over a swamp...this time of year...on take-off.

Birdstrike.

[X2Lee]

Originally posted by Otto
(emphasis added)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

NTSB Identification: ATL03FA008
Nonscheduled 14 CFR Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Accident occurred Wednesday, October 23, 2002 in Spanish Fort, AL
Aircraft: Cessna 208B, registration: N76U
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT




Full Report: http://www2.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20021029X05400&ntsbno=ATL03FA008&akey=1

Maybe a bird...

[Lizking]

Two pieces of airplane skin, a piece of cargo bag material a piece of unmanned aerial vehicle, and a piece of fabric were sent to Wright Patterson Air Force Base for analysis using microscope-based Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The infrared spectra were taken in transmission mode with samples mounted on a sodium chloride crystal plate, using a Bio-Rad Excalibur Series instrument. The spectra obtained were matched to spectra from several different databases to identify the type of polymer.


An unmanned aerial vehicle?!

[Otto]

I could understand you believing it was a 'bird strike' from what I pasted. (except for it happening at 3000 ft)   Only in the full report does it make it clear that it was a 'solid' object.

[muckmaw]

Originally posted by Otto
I could understand you believing it was a 'bird strike' from what I pasted. (except for it happening at 3000 ft)   Only in the full report does it make it clear that it was a 'solid' object.

If memory serves me, most bord strikes occur between 3K and 5K.

I'll have to check it.

[Mini D]

Bird strikes have occured over 10,000 feet.  3000 isn't all that high.  Turkey Vulchers have been reported as high as 15,000 feet.

Sounds more like a weather balloon.

[Lizking]

Most birds don't fly at night, nor do they leave red paint marks on the struck plane.

[Chairboy]

"No other object as been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than the planet Venus.  ...and if you tell anyone anything else, I'll kill you."

[Chairboy]

If it was uncontrolled traffic operating on VFR and violating them by flying at night, it could be swallowed by the swap and nobody would ever know.  Part of the investigate would probably be to try and correlate known aircraft ownership with missing persons reports locally.  At least, that's something I'd try....

[nuchpatrick]

Red..paint.. I wonder if the gov is missing drone and isn't saying anything.  At the size of these new drones there testing I wonder if one went astray.

[Dnil]

you can fly VFR at night.

[Pongo]

Thats where my 1/4 scale foker dr1 ended up.

[JBA]

"There were many additional pieces exhibiting the same type of transfer marks; however, the small size of many prevented confirming their location on the airframe. There was a small piece of what appeared to be black anodized aluminum, which was found embedded in the left wing dry bay panel at the wing root between the spars. The origin of the metal remains unknown; and is not believed to have come from the accident airplane."

no bird made of aluminum that I know of.

[Nash]